Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php

From greed, hatred, and delusion. From sensual passion and all the stuff that make's the householder's life a dusty path where it is hard to live the holy life utterly perfect and pure. Or you could say it's turning and running away from the 'real' world but that seems silly to me.

"I don't envision a single thing that, when developed & cultivated, leads to such great benefit as the mind. The mind, when developed & cultivated, leads to great benefit."

"I don't envision a single thing that, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about such suffering & stress as the mind. The mind, when undeveloped & uncultivated, brings about suffering & stress."

it's necessary to eat one meal a day and live with a bunch of skinny men in towels to turn away form greed, hatred and delusion? when you leave the monastery does that mean you're turning back to greed, hatred and delusion?

Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php

Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php

convivium wrote:i thought "spiritual friends are the whole of the path."

Yes, but spiritual friends (kalyāna mittā) are not buddies you hang out with for a chat, but teachers who instruct and admonish you to get off your butt and do some practice when appropriate, as well as encouraging you with kindness when you're feeling negative. A friend who encourages you to develop unwholesome deeds, words, and thoughts is a foe in the guise of a friend.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---

To get off one's butt by getting on one's butt, literally. i think the loneliness could become bearable if i found a way to step into it and through it; having no responsibilities beyond not doing certain things, and meditating a lot with occasional manual labor makes this seem feasible. i'm not an extrovert so that helps. in certain monasteries i've been to, like abhayagiri, they made it clear that they were all intentionally friendly and outgoing with people visiting and between each other (back then i found that somewhat annoying, but now i can appreciate it more).

Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php

Abhayagiri would be a good place to do a trial run as an Anāgārika. Ajahn Pasanno has a great deal of experience of training westerners, and I have a high regard for him. He was the abbot during my stay at Wat Pah Nanachat many moons ago.

Going into this with the idea that one will be lonely (even if bearable) can be prohibitive from the git go...being lonely and being alone are two (way) different deals...and although we may share many things, in the end we all live in our own little universe...

That's a good point. Some people would say that if you don't have people (or a person) that see you for who you are (or at least relate to your experience in some intimate way) then you're missing out on a basic human need. In some cultures that's the best we can hope for in life, and anyone who doesn't want to be known in this way is just a boring person. Then again people say sex is a basic human need too. Of course, the goal isn't to be a basic human, is it?

Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php

Ajahn Passano is the abbot there and it's true that he is very advanced (Ajahn Amaro left to take over Ajahn Sumedho's place at Amaravati). They work a lot of the day there and they are often very emphatic and outgoing. Ajahn Yatiko is a really nice guy, and So is Ven Cunda. They're all nice enough. The vinaya is very strong there. The one meal a day is good. The trails are good. There was a big wait-list last time I checked.

Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php